FREEDOM!, Performances, Gifts, Jobs, Projects, Sick, Craziness, New Used Car

We had some excitement this past week.  Daniel and Josh had an allergist appointment just for a check up.  Surprisingly, Josh is measuring 6 feet 4.5 inches without shoes on!!  Holy Cow! The medical assistant had a hard time measuring him since he was so tall.  He just won't stop growing--ha!  He is hoping to make it to 6'7", but we will see.  Anyway, they are increasing Josh's allergy shot dose because he is tolerating the shots well.  Hopefully he will only need shots for two more years since he has been doing them for 3 already.  As for Daniel he is doing great.  Since he failed his oral pistachio challenge about 8 months ago we thought we would redo the pistachio oral challenge again.  Daniel was not happy to try it again since last time he was pretty miserable when he broke out in hives and was wheezing after eating them.  But, I gave him the 'we need to try it again' pep talk and he reluctantly went along with it even though it meant a two hour+ visit that afternoon.  Excitingly enough he PASSED!!  He had no reaction at all to the pistachios!  YAY!!  That is so awesome!  This kid can eat anything without restriction now!  FREEDOM!!!  There is nothing he is allergic to anymore and we can't be more excited.  He even said he liked the taste of the pistachio which was an added bonus.  Here's the reluctant Daniel taking his first dose of pistachios at the office:

Bottoms Up!  Now that he passed we really need to pick up some of my favorite ice cream which is Spumoni!  It is so yummy, but we haven't had it since it has pistachio in it.  Wahoo! We are so excited!!

Last Saturday we had our ward Christmas party.  Josh and Matthew were asked to play a piano piece during the evening.  They both did really well despite being a tad nervous with some jittery hands.  Here's Josh:

 Matthew:

Matthew was excited to play and shouted highway exit numbers on the walk over to the piano and on the walk back to our table.  I don't know what to do about that kid--haha!  Thankfully everyone knows him and knows his love for exit numbers...at least I hope they do!

Sarah got to play the part of Mary in a small nativity act.

Here's Mary and Joseph with baby doll Jesus in a makeshift chair/manger set up.  When I first saw it I thought they may be performing CPR on the doll, but they were trying to comfort the supposed crying infant/doll--haha!

 The primary kids got to do a number.  I only got a picture of Noah who was hiding in the back.

Sarah was in there, too, but you couldn't see her from where we were sitting.

The kids enjoyed the ward Christmas party and we were glad they got to participate in parts of the program.

We had a super crazy night last week.  There were 4 different kids that had to be in 4 different places all at the same time--ugh!!  All at the same time we had Sarah had a dance performance which thankfully I was able to have a friend take her to that.  Daniel had a Hope Squad party at the Jr. High, Matthew had to have someone pick him up from his after school program and Josh had a band concert.  Thankfully I am done working so Aaron and I were able to divide and conquer along with some help from a friend, too.  The high school had a megaconcert where the band, Jazz band, orchestra, Madrigals, Acapella, and choir all performed in the same concert.  The concert ended up being a bit long, but it was pretty impressive to see the various talents of the students.  The band was the last to perform.  The piano was blocking our view of Josh so I did just take a picture of the whole band instead.

 After the band performed all the groups got together and performed one last number all together.  It was pretty awesome.  Josh was supposed to wear a bow tie, but didn't think to look for it until we actually had to leave to go to the concert.  Surprise, surprise he couldn't find it, but somehow it was my fault--isn't that how it always is?!  I gave him the, "Well, if you had put it away you would know where it was at yada, yada, yada" speech.  Anyway, he still looked nice despite the missing bow tie:

I didn't get any pictures of Sarah before her performance because things were so hectic trying to get everyone everywhere they needed to be.  She has a few more performances so I am sure we will get a picture of her next time.

Daniel really enjoyed his Hope Squad Christmas party.  All the kids brought a $5 gift to play games with.  Daniel ended up bringing home a bag of treats along with a 2 liter of Sprite.  Now being in a family of kids that enjoy such treats Daniel didn't want to share very much because if you give them an inch they will take a mile.  He shared a little bit, but after that he wanted to keep the rest for himself.  To make sure it stayed that way every time he got a drink from the 2 liter bottle he would mark the line of where it was at to make sure no one else helped themselves to his drink--haha!  Here he is marking his liquid Sprite level after pouring himself a drink.

He also got a hot chocolate mug with an attached cookie holder.  He made sure it worked by making some hot chocolate and fitting some cookies in the slot.  He was pretty excited because the warmth of the hot chocolate made the cookies warm and gooey so that was an unexpected added bonus-wahoo!

 Matthew seems to be our petri dish of germs.  He picks up sickness at school or wherever and is kind enough to share with the rest of us.  He stayed home from church Sunday since he didn't look or sound good.  It is always an argument about him staying home.  He HATES missing church so it took all morning to convince him that he really did need to stay home to not get others sick.  I know he didn't feel well because as soon as he sat down on the couch he quickly fell asleep--poor kid!

 The cold is making the rounds at our house, but no one has gotten it as bad as Matthew so far.  I hope it stays that way!!  'Tis the season, right?!

Anyway, Matthew did complete one of his big sewing projects at school last week.  He finished sewing his fleece blanket and it turned out pretty neat.  Surprisingly enough it is a pretty heavy blanket.  That is a good thing since Matthew HATES being cold at any time.  He would wear a coat in the summer if I would let him--the crazy kid!  Here's the front and back of the blanket:

 Daniel had his Christmas concert last week as well.  I unfortunately had to work that night so I missed being there which made me a bit sad.  Gratefully, I noticed that the Jr. High had someone there to record to concert and stream it live in Facebook so I was able to watch the band play one of their songs live while I was at work.  Here's my cute saxophone player right in the middle of the picture:

The beginning band is pretty small which is surprising.  They did play well considering the kids have only played their instruments for about 3 months.

I am happy to say I am done working until April.  Wahoo!  I think Aaron is pretty excited about that since he is really done playing the Mr. Mom role.  I think he has a new appreciation for the stuff I do since he had to take it over for the last 4 months.  He is happy to give those responsibilities to me and not look back--at least until April when I start up again.

We had an old laptop computer that had died.  Aaron was going to throw it away, but I wouldn't let him.  I asked if Daniel would want to take it apart to see what's inside.  I got a resounding HECK YA!!  Sarah and Daniel (and a little bit of Noah) spent the rest of the evening taking apart the laptop to see what made it tick.  Aaron was there to explain all the parts they were looking at.  It was pretty cool.

I usually don't enjoy communication from the school, but I got two awesome emails this week that I would like to share just so I have a record of them.  I got this one from Sarah's teacher.  I love that she took the extra time to let me know how Sarah is doing in school.  Sarah can be a bit on the quiet side, so it is nice to hear from someone who would actually know.  I also love it that she is a neighbor and knows the rest of our family, too.  Here's what the email said:

"Hey! I'm just sending out second term updates before our break...

Miss. Sarah is doing a wonderful job in 5th grade. She excels across subjects. Just yesterday she scored 95% on the chapter math test. She consistently does a great job with our weekly Spiral Math reviews. I loved that pic y'all shared on facebook of her taking that computer apart. She THRIVES in the STEAM setting, and I just love seeing girls that embrace those opportunities. 

Sarah does a good job in reading, too. She has grown her Ri (Reading Inventory / Lexile) by 57 points since the end of August. That is incredible growth considering she came into 5th with a 1031, which is right at an 8th grade level. Her current Lexile is 1088, and that's on the beginning side of 9th grade. WOW!  She has already completed her 40 Book Challenge bead requirement for second term. Please encourage her to keep reading so she'll be a head of the game for third term. One thing I'm mentioning to parents is that on occasion it is a good idea to "quiz" the kids at home about what they've read to beef up reading comprehension. After she's read for the night, just glance at her reading and ask her a few questions. That will support reading comp, as well as her retell. :) 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let me know. Thank you for sharing this sweet girl with us. Everyone adores her. My best to you, your family and Miss. Sophie over the holiday season."  

I question my parenting skills so when I get stuff like that maybe I am not doing as bad as I think I am!  

I also got this email from Matthew's teacher today:

"Hi! I just wanted to let you know that Matthew will be in the assembly tomorrow. The SBO's are granting wishes to various students and Matthew is one. Don't tell him but his wish was for a sweatshirt saying he's the human GPS and the SBO's sent away for a custom SHS sweatshirt! 

Thank you!  "

(SBO stands for student body officers) I am so excited for him.  He is going to be ecstatic for sure!!  After he gets it I don't know if he will be able to calm down and do anything else for the rest of the day.  Good luck to his teacher!!  The people at his high school have done so much for him.  I am so grateful for such wonderful students, teachers, administrators, etc.!  He truly has been blessed to be surrounded by such caring people!

Josh is keeping us on our toes.  He decided to go and get a job.  One of his friends has an uncle who is starting up a trampoline and adventure park in Layton.  The friend's uncle was recruiting her friends to come and work there.  Josh casually mentioned something to me and Aaron in passing, but with our crazy life we didn't pay too much attention to it.  It wasn't until he came and told us that he had an interview/audition that we said WHAT?!  I guess he did well at his first interview (they actually called them auditions) so he got invited back for another interview/audition.  We didn't think he would start working until he turned 16 in April so we didn't think too much about it.  We were surprised yet again when he got offered the job and that they would employ 15 year olds.  He was so enthusiastic/energetic at his audition that he got the job of a party host since he has a good rapport with the guests.  He had to do a 4 hour online training yesterday, fill out his job/tax paperwork and Aaron and I had to go and set up a direct deposit account at the bank so he could receive his paycheck via direct deposit.  Wow!!  He just likes to add to the craziness of everything, but I am glad he wants to work and earn his own money.  He really needs to earn his own money through a job instead of through dares.  Just yesterday he came home and told me he earned $10 at school.  I asked him how and he said that he got dared to put someone's post run nasty, sweaty sock in his mouth for $10.  Ewwww!  Let's just say I am glad he can now earn money a normal way instead of sticking gross socks in his mouth.  Bleh!!!  I am impressed he went and did the whole thing himself without any prompting/nagging from us.  Hopefully, he can fit it into his already crazy busy schedule between, Youth Council, Cross Country, and the other stuff he is involved in.  I guess time will tell.

In getting ready for Josh to turn 16 we finally picked up a car for him today.  I am hoping it works great.  I mean you can do all your homework on a used car, but you never know for sure until you drive it for a while.  I drove it home today from Ogden and I didn't get stranded so that's always a good sign, right?!  We got a killer deal on it at an auction so I am hoping it is a good car....keeping my fingers crossed!!

Thanksgiving, Tale of Two Couches, Snow, Jubilee Christmas, Economics Fair, Footlocker, Basketball, Business Trip, Creche Festival

We have been keeping busy for the last two weeks.  We managed to have a great Thanksgiving.  It was a bit smaller this year with just our family and G&G T, but it was still great. Here we are getting ready to eat our yummy dinner:

Aaron smoked the turkey and it turned out pretty great.  It took a bit longer than expected, but it was worth the wait:

Later on that evening Aaron and I ventured outside to see some Black Friday things.  There wasn't too much that we actually wanted to get this year so we were just looking for fun.  We were able to pick up a few things in preparation for Christmas, though which is always nice.

Friday afternoon we took the kids to the Christmas Tree Jubilee up in Ogden.  It is a mini Festival of the Trees, but in Ogden.  The trees there are so pretty.

It was a nice holiday break.  It even snowed during the weekend.  The kids were all about going out a making a snowman.  Sophie made sure she was right in the middle of all the action--crazy dog!

You can't see all the snow stuck to her muzzle and paws, but it's there!

She came in to warm up.  She is so spoiled.

Noah had his Economics Fair coming up.  Of course we didn't get to making his sign until late Sunday night before it was due Monday morning.  Don't you just love those last minute assignments you get reminded about at bedtime the night before they are due?!  Here's Noah showing me what he wants on his poster:

Here's Noah's sign that he came up with for his Slime Shop:

The grade did a mock Economics Fair the day before the actual fair.  At this mock one is when the grade could actually shop at each other's stores.  Noah's teacher sent us this picture of a cute entrepreneur Noah waiting to start selling his wares:

Last week was Mornings with Mom.  I was actually supposed to work this morning, but I was able to find someone to cover my shift since I don't have too many of these mornings with mom left.  I was grateful I was able to spend the morning with my two youngest.

After eating our donuts the kids took me around to their classes to show me where they sit and the projects they have been working on the last little while.  Noah's teacher took a quick picture of us as we walked by:

The school was smart and put out all the lost and found items for parents to look through.  Amazingly enough I found THREE of Noah's missing jackets which I got to carry around all morning.  DOH!!  I am glad we were able to bring them home again.  I am sure I will find them again on the lost and found table in a few months.  Don't you just love kids?!

After Mornings with Mom it was the real Economics Fair.  Aaron took an early lunch so we could go and see Noah's stand.  Aaron gave him a quick smooch as we were passing by:

Here's Noah selling his glitter slime.  All my kids sold slime for their Economics Fair so Noah was no different--haha!  However, this time we made a little bit different slime.  We used glitter glue instead of regular old white glue.  It looked a lot cooler, but it was a lot more sticky.  I am sure when the kids brought their treasures home, their parents weren't too pleased--haha!  It sold out which was a good thing.  Here's Noah manning his station:

Josh was able to go to his Cross Country Footlocker race in California last week.  I, unfortunately, had to work the night he was leaving so I wasn't able to say goodbye as he got on the bus which made me a bit sad.  I did give him a big hug and say goodbye before I left for work, though.  Aaron took him to drop him off.  After the meeting in the coach's room they got a few friend pictures.

Josh was the last one on the bus last year so he made sure he was one of the first ones so he could reserve a spot on the floor to sleep.  The bus was driving through the night so sleep space on the floor was at a premium especially for someone who is 6'4".  Sleeping in a chair for Josh messes everything up since he has to scrunch up to even fit so the floor was preferable.  One of Josh's friends took a picture of how Josh had to sleep on the floor during the drive.  He looks like he is practicing to be a mummy--haha!

I don't know how much sleep they actually got on the bus, but they had some fun, too:

They stopped for some hot chocolate at one point:

They left on a Thursday night and got to California the next morning.  After they checked out the racing trail the team then went to the beach.  Josh got caught in a wave and got smashed and drug in the sand.  He sent a picture of his raw eyelid and cheek.  

Someone did  take a picture of his spectacular bed head hair which was quite terrifying if I do say so myself--haha!

Josh made sure he got the most from his breakfast as well.  His first course (yes he did eat even more after eating all of this) he covered it in whipping cream--his bowl of cereal, waffle, mini donuts, yogurt, etc. is all covered in cream.  I can only imagine what his second course looked like--haha!

More fun in California:

The race was early Saturday morning.  Josh made a bet with one of his teammates.  They bet they would beat each other.  Whoever lost had to announce to the bus who was the better runner and better athlete.  Unfortunately, Josh lost by 1 second to Boris his teammate.  They recorded Josh telling the bus who was a better athlete--haha!

The team got in Sunday evening after a whirlwind trip.  Here's the bus as it pulled into the high school parking lot:

It was a fun trip for Josh. I am glad he loves Cross Country and is able to do fun things while being on the team!

Noah started basketball last week.  He still isn't as serious about learning the game as he is about goofing off. Oh well what can you do.  He did manage to get a few baskets while practicing so I will count that as a win!

Now I have a tale to tell about two couches...We bought some reclining couches from Sam's Club 4 years ago and they totally fell apart.  The frames were bent which made it really hard to close the recliners.  The stitching around the cushions had come unsewn.  Really both couch frames were really bent and none of the headrests would stay against each other if that makes sense.  To sum it all up both of these couches were in horrible shape which was kind of upsetting since they really weren't that old.  Just  to see what would happen we stopped by Sam's Club customer service to ask what we could do about our falling apart couches.  Surprisingly enough they said if we had our receipt they could return them--what the what?!  We didn't have our receipts, but we got online with the Sam's Club customer chat.  It took them a week to find our transaction number, but they found it for us--wahoo!!  Last Saturday after I got off work Aaron and I went down there to show them that we had our transaction number.  They said that was good enough and that if we brought in the couches they would give us a refund.  We were shocked and excited!  Thankfully, my brother Bryan had a flatbed trailer and was able to help Aaron load up the poor couches to be returned.  As you can see both couches were in really rough shape!

The frame was bent and none of the headrests were against the others on both couches.  Here's what it looked like on one:

 The other:

It was so bent that once you reclined the seat it was almost impossible to get it closed again.

 The stitching between the cushions had come unsewn on both couches to the point you could see the padding underneath:

After loading them up with Bryan's help they took them down and Sam's Club actually returned them!!  Wahoo!  Since we didn't think that was even an option we didn't have a backup plan for anything to sit on.  They were having a good sale on couches at Sam's Club so Aaron decided to replace them with the newer model.  We are hoping they hold up better than the last ones. We were so grateful Bryan and his family were able to help us that afternoon/evening!!  Here's what we have now:

And that is our tale of two couches.  Hopefully there won't be a second novel, but just in case we are saving our receipt--haha!

Noah got to go to his friend's baptism last Saturday.  His friend had asked him to say the opening prayer which Noah was excited about.  It was a pretty cool experience and I was glad Noah was there to see him get baptized.

I was at work Wednesday and Thursday evening so Aaron had to be Mr. Mom those evenings which meant he went grocery shopping.  There is a reason why I do most of the grocery shopping because when Aaron goes we end up with all kinds of unnecessary stuff.  Here's one example of what happened Thursday evening.  He texted me a picture of this while I was at work.  Smith's grocery store was having a weekend sale on Christmas candy which made it an additional 50% off the regular sales price.  He went to town.  He bought 20 bags of chocolate Cadbury eggs.  Poor Daniel was with him and had to help wrangle all the bags of eggs.

So instead of regular groceries I do believe we will be eating Cadbury eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week--haha!  Good thing I only have one more week of working before it starts up again in April.  Although I am grateful he has been Mr. Mom the last four months he is more than ready for me to resume my regular mom duties--haha!

However since we now have a plethora of Cadbury Eggs I think this comic will be more true than I would like to let on for the next little while--haha!

Aaron was out of town for part of last week.  He got to go to Georgia.  He was supposed to leave early Monday morning and return Wednesday night, but since George Bush passed away his plans had to change.  He ended up leaving to come home Tuesday night after a long day of meetings.  He didn't end up getting home until about 1 am Wednesday morning, but the nice thing was since he is a government employee he got to have Wednesday off.  A bunch of Federal employees got the day off since it was George Bush's funeral.  I am sad about George Bush passing away, but it was nice for him to have to day off.  We were able to spend Wednesday morning together before I had to leave for work that afternoon which was nice.  While he was in Georgia he did get to try out his first Hibachi meal.  He enjoyed it.  Here's the chef for his dinner group:

The Community Creche Festival is this weekend.  Everyone in the community is invited to share their nativities.  I was excited to display my neat olive wood nativity my sister, Jennifer, brought back for me from Jerusalem.  I also displayed two others which are more sentimental than fancy.  We took everyone to see the festival last night.  Here's the ones I displayed with Aaron, Matthew and Noah in the background:

 Throughout the festival they have musical numbers, too.  We were able to listen to the kids piano teacher do a really cool duet with another lady in our neighborhood.  They also had a saxophone number which Daniel made us stay to listen to.  Daniel is all about the saxophone.  After we listened to that number he came home and broke out his saxophone and started practicing, too.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but we are hanging in there!  Everyone is excited for my work shifts to end for a few months so we can get back to 'normal'.  I laugh because our 'normal' is anything but--haha!